The other day I lost a ton of money to 'berkopoker'. The next day I was trying to play him headsup and 'justlearned' kept interfering. This is obviously a jerk move, but allowed, however he was being a total ass and rubbing in the fact that I was losing, etc. I said a few nasty things, and recieved this email from stars.

Hello t soprano,

We have received a complaint regarding some things you said in chat
at our tables. I have reviewed the chat log and did find some of your
comments to be inappropriate.

Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone
can feel comfortable. Foul language and abuse of other players takes
away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore cannot be permitted.

We must ask you to refrain from using this type of language in the
future, or we will be forced to remove your chat privileges.

Please note that you may not be the only one receiving a message such
as this. When we receive a chat complaint, we review the entire chat
of all players at the table. Any other offenders at the table were
also warned or revoked as appropriate to our policies.

Regards,

Emely
PokerStars Support Team

---
34316628 t soprano you really deserve to die 6 12/13/2005 7:56:30 PM
34316628 t soprano a very painful death 6 12/13/2005 7:56:35 PM
34316628 t soprano die 6 12/13/2005 7:57:16 PM
34316628 t soprano seriously 6 12/13/2005 7:57:17 PMThe next day a similiar situation comes up, except I am not really upset and make one comment totally in jest and sets off the following emails..

Hello John,

The amount of funds a player deposits or makes use of at our tables does
not provide them with any type of freedom to be abusive at our tables.

You have already had your chat privileges revoked for a period of one
month. Since that you have received two additional warnings, when
technically none should have been provided. The most recent warning was
only 2 days ago.

You were clearly informed that if you continued with the use of
inappropriate language at our tables that your chat privileges would be
revoked.

As you have again made use of inappropriate language, you have left us with
no choice but to revoke your chat privileges.

Your chat privileges will be eligible for reinstatement in 6 months.

As there isn't anything more to say on this subject, we will be unable to
respond to future emails regarding your chat revocation.

Thank you for your understanding, and for playing at PokerStars.

Regards,

Rob
PokerStars Shift Supervisor

----- Original Message -----
From: bobcards2001@hotmail.com
Sent: 2005/12/15 12:22:41
To: support@pokerstars.com
Subject: RE: PokerStars Chat

> Reinstate my chat privileges immediately. I probably have played the
most
>raked hands in 100/200 since it has opened, I almost never get chat
>complaints, and am friends with many of the players. In this instance I
was
>trying to play someone who had beaten me out of $30,000 the day before
>headsup, and a friend of mine who I've known since before either of us
>played poker (IndigoAE, *real name inserted*) sat in. I jokingly tell him to 'go f'
>himself, which by no means should be remotely offensive to any reasonable
>person. The fact that I even have to write this email is absurd. Please
>forward this to your superiors ASAP, as I would like a formal apology.
>
>>From: "PokerStars Support" <support@pokerstars.com>
>>To: bobcards2001@hotmail.com
>>Subject: PokerStars Chat
>>Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 01:29:08 -0500
>>
>>
>>Hello t soprano,
>>
>>We have received a complaint regarding your use of inappropriate
>>language at our tables. After reviewing the chat log (see below), it
>>was decided to remove your chat privileges for a period of 6 months.
>>Your language was highly offensive and completely unacceptable.
>>
>>Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone
>>can feel comfortable. Foul language and abuse of other players takes
>>away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore will not be permitted.
>>
>>Please note that you may not be the only one receiving a message such
>>as this. When we receive a chat complaint, we review the entire chat
>>of all players at the table. Any other offenders at the table were
>>also warned or revoked as appropriate to our policies.
>>
>>You may contact us in six months to have your chat privileges reinstated.
>>
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>William
>>PokerStars Support Team
>>
>>---
>>34378603 t soprano go f urself 6 12/14/2005 11:58:47
PM
Needless to say I am furious, and demanded to talk to Lee Jones. Thoughts?

My thoughts??? That's the most absurd thing I have ever seen.... You said "go f urself" to someone who (as you said) was a friend of yours... You werent reported for that were you? Were they just monitoring your chat? Well, here are my thoughts... F pokerstars... -Sok

Ahh you never talk to me anyway.

Of course you you know why you lost the 30K.. Now you lose chat and 30K in two days. Better rethink sending back that money I sent you. You know what I am talking about. You cant run from the facts!!!

I find it so funny that so many people get their chat banned, especially when I read what they said. Honestly, I think I say worse shit when I am sitting down to greet the other players. I've usually affected someones dignity before we highcard for dealer. I have never, ever been warned or anything, and I tend to cross the line.

t, I think that someone is out to get you. You should leave stars as soon as you can. However, if you want advice on how to tear people apart without getting in trouble...

I mean, I tear people a new one when I'm in chat, and Stars has never said a thing (no, there is no jackaaron on pstars, I realize that).

Please remember that I only do it to get into people's heads any time that I possibly can, so don't take me for a loon, but here are some examples:

(talking to a lady that I felt was the type that lived alone, and had a cat): Lady, I tell you what, the next time you raise me like that, I'm going to chop your cat in half with a flat screen t.v.

(talking to a younger guy that I felt was still living with his parents): Boy, your dad just e-mailed me, and told me to ask you if you were going to do anything with your life. He also said to make yourself available later because he wants some more booty.

(seemingly middle aged guy): Dude, your aggression leads me to believe that you're trying to make up for something...did you 3rd wife leave you because you were too "small?"

No F this, or F that because that, for whatever reason, gets people reported.

You're a ranked player, so you don't need advice, I'm just saying, I've gotten people EXTREMELY upset with me, and never got in trouble once.

One of the problems with revoking chat is that it has become a weapon for the little man with a big mouth to gain some control over the big boys. When I was younger and in the military there were plenty of little guys with big mouths always trying to provoke guys who they knew could kick their asses. The little big mouths did this because they knew that if they could provoke a physical confrontation they could get the other guy in big trouble. It was their way of trying to dominate bigger people. Celebrities face the same thing in a wide variety of forms. The same type of thing is happening with respect to chat. Railbirds or other little big mouths try to provoke some big name players into "abusive" chat and then run to report it to the poker site to get the person's chat revoked.

T Soprano, whether you like it or not, you are a semi-celebrity because of your poker accomplishments. Weasles will come out of the woodwork to try to get to you. You are going to have to find an effective way to deal with this, just as other celebrities have. Railbirds who chat at you are much like sports fans shouting at athletes from the stands. You have to treat it the same way and decide if it is really worth it to engage them. Just engaging them at all makes it worth it all for them.

You should probably lose the fury before you continue to communicate with stars about this. GL.

My chat has been revoked 3 times just cash out and make a new account.:)

What, since you have a big account balance, the rules shouldn't apply to you equally?

My thoughts: pokerstars can enforce their chat rules as they please. You got warned, and yet it didn't stop you from absusing chat. (sure, I've seen far worse in chat than what you got banned for, but I would still consider it abusive.) If you wish to cut off your nose to spite your face, then by all means withdraw your balance from PokerStars and play elsewhere. Otherwise, just serve out the 6 month chat ban, and when you get your voice back, learn how to handle chat trolls in the only effective way there is: DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM!

"I remeber reading about someone on another site who wanted a chop three way and he was unable to complete the deal. it cost him over 35k in real money..."

If you don�t get your chat turned back on�that will stink.

But if you do get to a FT and need to start dealing, email support early in the FT and let them know you need your chat turned on to make deals. I have seen them turn it on just for deal making several times�.but it is slow, so start early when you arrive at the FT. You may even ask them to make a note in the file to allow it....so the underlings don�t have to find permission.

he lost 30K to someone and was talking some shit. Who cares if some douchebag 1 cent 2 cent Nl player is offended. It's not like he was totally out of line anyway. Cut the man some slack.

well i remind you that said i have seen much worse, but hey, that's the rules man. And u were WARNED, got a second chance, and blew it. Suck down ur pride for one second in life, send letter of apology to stars, and I'm reasonably sure you'll get ur chat back. And take it easy on the Stars support team. Just doing their job. The support team does not make the rules, it just enforces them.

Maybe, but I sill have my chat :-) gl with that...

I don't see it that way Below... re-read the original post... he already had a 1 month ban in the past, plus PokerStars says he had 2 warnings since that 1 month ban (we only know what the recent warning was for). And he probably got a warning before the first 1 month ban. So that's at least five complaints that he's got on his chat. FIVE! How many things in life do you get five chances at before you suffer consequences?

By the way, here's the link to PokerStars clearly worded rules regarding chat:

http://www.pokerstars.com/cardroomrules.html

Look I have played with t soprano a few times and he can be pretty nasty to other players in chat. I'm personally not offended, but if pokerstars doesn't want those kind of insults in their chat, and clearly post rules to that effect, then why the surprise and outrage when they enforce the rules ON THE 5TH OFFENSE? Am I the only person who thinks this went down just about right? Am I the only person who's not just gonna stroke this guy?